Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Jan. 5 Poem and First Day Back

Yards of yarn.
Click-clack-click.
Knitting needles
swoosh swiftly up and down.

A cup of cocoa,
cozy socks,
and a ruby red robe.

Winding down like a sleepy watch,
like a ball of yarn
unrolling itself across the rug.

___________________________

Yesterday was a teacher work day, which went well. We didn't get a ton of stuff done, but we did get some projects and copies done, and plan out the next two weeks of literacy, and I'm feeling less panicky than I was during the last week of break. We'll be wrapping up some things we've been doing for at least the next three weeks, so it's not like "Heather has to come up with a whole month-long unit SOON," which is what I was concerned about.

Today was the first day the kids were back and it was... long. Lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnng. Hopefully the following days go by a little quicker, and at least it's only really a four-day school week. This week, my mentor teacher is taking first block literacy, I'll take second block literacy, and we'll kind of team-teach third block geography. Then next week, it's all me, baby. For eight weeks in a row, I have to be "lead teaching" by myself--that means the planning and grading, too, for the most part. She'll still be there for support during and reflection after classes, and I'll have her and the other 7th grade literacy teacher to help plan and such, so I'll be fine. I'm just sure I'll come home exhausted every day, at least until I really get into the swing of it.

After that, it's CSAP time (Colorado's standardized test that all school kids after 3rd grade have to take), and I'll kind of back off to let them do that. Then it's 4th quarter, towards the end of which I can go around and observe at other schools to broaden my horizons, and then... I'll be done! This is the general, far-reaching plan.

Having finished my hot chocolate already, I think I'll knit for just a little while, and then get to bed.

2 comments:

alw_ays said...

You make the whole "teaching in a classroom" thing seem less daunting, attainable, even practically simple.

Then I remember how many students you have at once and shrink back into my safety net of one-on-one.

I do admire the classroom teacher.

Heather In Progress said...

It's a little frustrating when there are 27 of them and only about 5 at a time are actually listening to you. What I love most is going around and talking to them and helping them one-on-one. I guess I could do the tutoring thing, but this has always been my dream. (Who knows why?)